An object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for making services provided by a network available to the user in various ways depending on the location of the user, without placing large requirements to the network.
The objects of the invention are achieved by storing in the memory of the mobile station the information on the basis of which it recognizes that it is situated in a given localized service area and by programming the mobile station such that in response to such recognition it sends an appropriate message to an apparatus that provides services.
The invention pertains to a communications system that comprises base stations to provide mobile stations with communications links and at least one localized service area. It is characterized in that it comprises a service server which is arranged to maintain information concerning the location of mobile stations in localized service areas and to generate requests for changing the service selection offered to mobile stations in response to receiving, from the mobile stations, mobile station generated messages describing the location of the mobile stations in relation to localized service areas, and means for changing the service selection offered to a mobile station on the initiative of the communications system in response to an indication that the mobile station has arrived in said localized service area.
The invention also pertains to a cellular mobile station that comprises a control block and storage means. It is characterized in that its storage means are adapted so as to store the information required to recognize a given localized service area whereby the mobile station is arrange so as to send-in response to the recognition of a localized service area-a notification of its arrival in the localized service area, said notification being intended to function as an impulse for changing the service selection offered to the mobile station.
The invention further pertains to a method for changing the service selection offered to a mobile station in a communications system that comprises base stations for providing mobile stations with communications links. The method is characterized in that it comprises steps in which
from the mobile station there is received a message indicating that the mobile station has detected that it is in the localized service area
information is generated about the arrival of a mobile station in a localized service area, and
the service selection offered to said mobile station on the initiative of the communications system is changed.
In accordance with the invention, localized service areas (LSA) are defined for mobile stations, which areas may be purely geographical or may have some other criteria. In addition to or instead of the geographical definition a localized service area may be defined e.g. in chronological terms. “Geographical definition” means generally definitions associated with a place or area: a localized service area may comprise a base station cell, several cells, a location area (LA), a public land mobile network (PLMN), an area defined by coordinates, certain cell identifiers, or an area in which base stations send to mobile stations some other identifier. Combinations of these alternatives may be used, too.
Information about how a mobile station can recognize that it is in a given localized service area is stored in the memory of the mobile station. Since services are usually in a way or another associated with the subscription contract in which the user is given certain user-specific rights to use the communications network, it is preferable to store the information relating to the recognition of a localized service area in the user's SIM (subscriber identity module) card or a corresponding memory means intended specifically for the identification of the user independent of the apparatus used. In response to a positive identification the user's mobile station sends a message addressed to an apparatus responsible for providing localized services in the network. With this message the mobile station tells that the user is in a certain localized service area. On the basis of the message the network can offer to the user just those services that are needed in that localized service area. When the mobile station moves elsewhere, it sends a similar message telling that it is leaving the localized service area. The network may also automatically deduce that the mobile station has left the area as a certain condition is met. Such conditions include e.g. that
the mobile station does not respond to the next paging message or another message sent in the localized service area in question,
the mobile station does not acknowledge a data packet addressed to it,
the mobile station does not in a certain period of time renew its message of arrival in the localized service area, or
the mobile station does not in a certain period of time send another message that must be sent periodically, such as the periodic location update (PLU) message, for example.
The apparatus, to which the mobile station addresses its location message, may be maintained by the network operator or a service provider. The message may be an SMS (Short Message Service) message, an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) message, a DTNF-coded (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency) message sent in conjunction with an ordinary call, or a data call. In response to the message the apparatus, to which the mobile station addresses its location message, may e.g. send information about the area in question to the mobile station or start the regular or periodic sending of such information, which goes on until the mobile station leaves the localized service area. Furthermore, the apparatus providing the services may activate or inactivate another localized service, send information about the location of the mobile station to other apparatus which need that information in their operation, or carry out some other function. One option is that mobile stations are as-signed certain localized service profiles which may comprise various factors from call pricing to data rates of data calls or to priorities of call establishment and management. The application of the service profile is in that case based on the location of the mobile station in a given localized service area.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are intended solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims.